“So use reality,” you say, “Mystery fiction is all too contrived anyway.” Most crimes in the real world aren’t really all that puzzling. GMs in an RPG just don’t have that kind of control over the players or their characters. More importantly, they control what their characters don’t ask, thus avoiding premature solutions and unnecessary details. They can control who their protagonists talk to, and what questions they ask. They can present clues in very specific ways to obscure key items in a field of red herrings. Authors and screenwriters have complete control over their characters. Borrowing ideas from popular fiction is not as easy as it looks. You’d have to live in a cave to avoid exposure to the huge number of mystery books, television shows, and movies currently available. I also wrote it for players trying to figure out what their hardened detective character should do when confronted with a crime scene. I wrote GURPS Mysteries, in part, to help GM’s avoid the mistakes I’ve made over the decades in trying to challenge my players with puzzling events in addition to combat. It’s one of the world’s most basic plots, but it is much harder to successfully portray in an interactive RPG setting than you might expect. Something is hidden, it must be uncovered.
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